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Taliyah Frazier, upper right inset, and her suspected killers: Keimari Johnson, upper left; Trey Dennis, lower left; Kenlando Lewis, lower middle; and Lamarion Buchanan, lower right. (Crime scene photo and mugshots from Metropolitan Nashville Police Department; Taliyah’s photo from her obituary)
Four suspects have been identified in the shooting of a 4-year-old girl who was killed by gunfire as she sat in the back seat of a car.
The four suspects in the May 30 death of Taliyah Frazier, who died after 20 rounds were fired into the car, were identified as Trey Dennis, 23, Keimari Johnson, 20, Kenlando Lewis, 18, and Lamarion Buchanan, 19. The car carrying Taliyah, her 2-year-old twin brothers, and the twins’ 22-year-old father was at a Nashville intersection at the time, according to Nashville police.
One of the twins suffered a non-critical graze wound to the head; the other was uninjured.
Nashville Police Chief John Drake said in a Twitter video the shooting had shocked the city.
“Taliyah was a precious, innocent girl, a child of this community who should be alive today,” he said. “A 4-year-old struck down by gunfire impacts all of us.”
The four allegedly were in a Ford sedan that pulled up to the intersection where a Chevrolet Malibu with Taliyah inside was stopped for a red light, authorities said. Two of the four suspects got out of the Ford and fired multiple rifle rounds at the Malibu, killing Taliyah and grazing her brother in the head, police said.
Taliyah was struck in the head. Her 2-year-old brother suffered a non-critical graze wound to his head. His twin brother was uninjured, officials said. The driver was wounded in the arm.
Police said 20 rounds were fired. Police did not say who fired the shots.
As the shots were being fired, the unidentified 22-year-old driver of the Malibu — the father of the twins — sped away and drove about three miles to a Family Dollar store where the mother of the children works. Police and paramedics were summoned, but Taliyah died the next day.
The suspects fled after the shooting, and their abandoned Ford was found days later, authorities said.
Police said the shooting was “non-random” and targeted, but a motive was not revealed.
A witness was deeply shaken, Nashville’s WKRN reported.
“I could tell she was really, really hurt because the back of her shirt was soaked in blood,” the witness said, the station reported. “I’ve never seen anything like it. I was so shaken up. I’ve been to crime scenes but never with babies involved. I was praying for her so hard last night, I just couldn’t believe that evilness was that great. That was just a pure act of evil.”
“Babies,” the witness added. “Babies. These were babies.”
Terry Dickson, Taliyah’s great-grandfather, told WKRN he’s devastated.
“Taliyah was like our daughter,” Dickson said. “Taliyah lived with us. She was here through the weekdays and the weeknights. She was a cheerful baby, loved everybody.”
The four suspects were being held in jail on felony homicide charges, police said.
Johnson also faces charges of marijuana and drug paraphernalia possession, weapon possession, evading arrest, and driving on a suspended license, according to Davidson County Sheriff’s Office online booking records.
Lewis faces additional charges of theft of a firearm, possession, evading arrest and weapon possession, records show. Online records indicate that Buchanan was in custody in North Carolina,
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